Inside the life of former Nickelodeon child star who died at 33 in hit-and-run

Per the NYPD, a sedan struck a female, later identified as Kianna, when she was crossing the street just before 7 AM at Pitkin Avenue and Mother Gaston Blvd. She was dragged by the car for two blocks and found motionless following a call to emergency services.

Kianna was pronounced dead on the scene, with the official cause of death noted as severe trauma to the head and torso. No arrests have been made as of writing, although the NYPD has issued a call for suspects or tips.

Born on 28 November, 1992, Kianna began acting when she was just six years old, appearing in the 1999 Rosie Perez movie The 24 Hour Woman playing the character of Tanessha Labelle, per her IMDb page.

Her other credits include the 2001 TV movie Santa, Baby!, providing the voice of a character named Dakota, and appearances as herself in episodes of Rock of Ages, Maury and Death of a Dynasty.

Her most prominent credits include her work with Nickelodeon, first receiving notice when she was cast in 1999 to provide the voice of Fuchsia Glover in the Nick Jr. show Little Bill, created by and based on the life of Bill Cosby.

The character was originally voiced by Nakia Williams in the first episode, but Kianna took over the role since and played the character for its five year run, ending in 2004, over the course of 23 episodes. She portrayed the title character's paternal cousin.

Following Little Bill's 2004 conclusion, she appeared in seven episodes of the popular Nick show All That for its tenth season as a regular performer, ending her run in 2005. She also spent a year on the first national tour of Hairspray from 2004 to 2005, playing the character of little Inez.

Very little is known about Kianna's life since she stepped away from the screen in 2005. She was a native New Yorker, born in New York City, and had moved to Los Angeles at some point in 2005.

Per local news station Pix11, one of Kianna's neighbors revealed that she was "down on her luck" in recent years, prior to her being publicly identified as the former child star, adding: "It's sad, I know who she is. I used to see her all the time."